Thousands of Detroit and Wayne County homeowners face tax foreclosures. Some of those families still have time to save their homes, but they might be paying more in taxes than they should have had to pay.

Wayne County has begun tax foreclosure proceedings on nearly 75,000 properties, up 34% from 56,000 last year.

Treasury workers last month began posting notices on properties the county plans to auction next fall if owners don't pay taxes or agree to payment plans.

There are 62,000 properties in Detroit owing $326.4 million in taxes, interest and fees that are set to be foreclosed. Motor City Mapping data analyzed by Loveland Technologies indicates that 37,000 of those Detroit Properties are occupied.

Republican candidate for Congress David Trott was the subject of some street theater this week.

Trott is running for the U.S. House seat in Metro Detroit’s 11th district.

He’s also a former co-owner of the Trott & Trott law firm, which specializes in home foreclosure work on behalf of banks. It prospered during the recent housing crisis, foreclosing on up to 80,000 homes in 2009 alone.

Michigan is experiencing an uptick in initial home foreclosure filings.

Michigan has seen 45 straight months of year-over-year declines in the number of home foreclosure filings.

But for the last two months, the number of foreclosure notices have been inching higher. In July, the number of foreclosure filings increased by 26% over the previous month. However, July’s foreclosure filings were down 22% from July 2013.

Daren Bloomquist is with Realty Trac. He was surprised to see a 6% increase in foreclosure starts last month.

The report shows that U.S. foreclosure activity in June decreased 16% from a year ago to lowest level since July 2006, the month before the housing-price bubble burst. In Michigan, the foreclosure activity was also back to a lower level than the number before the housing bust.

Daren Blomquist, a Vice President with Realty Trac, discussed three reasons behind this slowdown in foreclosures.

The problem is government agencies that verify the identities and tax returns of people taking out mortgages are closed by the shutdown. That means banks and mortgage companies are unable to finish their paperwork on home loans.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Governor Rick Snyder has signed into law changes in Michigan's home foreclosure rules but is calling on lawmakers to swiftly enact more legislation to clarify some issues.

Bills signed Wednesday keep intact the redemption period when homeowners can challenge a foreclosure's legality. An earlier version of the legislation would have reduced the period from 6 months to 60 days.

This “week in review” Michigan Radio’s Weekend Edition host Rina Miller and political analyst Jack Lessenberry discuss: Governor Rick Snyder’s State of the State speech, the possibility of no fault absentee voting, a positive report on Michigan’s housing market, and a possible tax amnesty program for Detroit.